Prawn or shrimp are coated with Indian spices and tossed with pakora batter to make a delicious appetizer. These are great on their own or with mint chutney or coriander chutney.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 15 minutes
  • Total time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 2
  • Category: Appetizer
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons gram flour ((besan))
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch (or rice flour)
  • 1 small onion (sliced thinly (omit if using small prawns))
  • 1 sprig curry leaves (or 8 mint leaves finely chopped)
  • 1 green chilli (fine chopped)
  • 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste ((or ½ tsp each crushed/ grated ginger & garlic))
  • ¼ to ½ teaspoon garam masala powder (or any seasoning you prefer)
  • ⅓ teaspoon salt ((divided, use as needed))
  • oil (to deep fry)
  • 10 shrimp ((or tiger prawns, 300 grams))
  • ¼ teaspoon red chili powder
  • ⅛ teaspoon turmeric powder
  • salt (as needed)

Method

  1. Marinate prawns: Devein, peel and clean prawns/ shrimp. Rinse well and drain them completely. Coat them with red chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala and salt. If you want add a tsp of lemon as well. Leave them aside for 10 mins while you prep up the rest.
  2. Prep up to fry: Heat oil in a deep pan to deep fry. Coat the prawns with ginger garlic, green chilies, gram flour, cornstarch, more salt and curry leaves. If it looks too dry, add a tsp of water to coat the prawns well with all the ingredients.
  3. Test if oil is hot: When the oil is hot enough, to test drop a small portion of the dough to the oil. It should rise steadily and not brown too quickly. This is the right temperature. Your thermometer should read 350 F.
  4. Fry shrimp pakora: Regulate the flame to medium high, hold each prawn along with some onions, curry leaves batter and gently slide to the hot oil. Let fry until golden and crisp. You know they are cooked when the tails are curled.
  5. Remove them to a cooling rack or steel colander. Fry all the shrimp in batches. If you want refry for a minute, for extra crisp texture.
  6. Shrimp fritters are best served hot, they begin to lose the crunch upon cooling.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.